1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a management technology of a storage system provided with a power saving function of a physical storage device, and more particularly to the technology for simplifying a management operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A storage apparatus provided with a plurality of physical storage devices has been known. For example, as seen in a disk array apparatus which is equipped with a plurality of disk devices provided with a rotating disk in the physical storage device, the storage apparatus consumes a large amount of electric power among information equipments. Therefore, a technology for saving electric power of the disk array apparatus has been developed, which is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-134830.
According to the disclosure of the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-134830, in the storage system consist of the storage apparatus and management console, the administrator controls a power status of the disk device using the management console to save the electric power of the storage apparatus. Here, the power status means an operation status from power saving point of view of the disk. A spin-up and a spin-down are examples of the power status. The spin-up indicates a fast rotation state of the disk, and is capable of receiving an input/output processing such as read processing and write processing. However, the spin-up consumes a large amount of electric power. The spin-down indicates a slow rotation state of the disk, and is not capable of receiving the input/output processing such as the read processing and write processing. However, the spin-down consumes a small amount of electric power.
The disk device in a power saving state of the power status does not execute the input/output processing such as the read processing and write processing. The power saving state may include, for example, a power-off state and a rotation stop state of the disk, as well as the spin-down.
Meanwhile, a file server which provides a service capable of accessing a file as a unit is known. The file server stores a file system for managing the file in the physical storage device of the storage apparatus and provides a computer with a service such as a file access service and the like using the file system.
The administrator is required to conduct various kinds of management operations including, for example, a creation and deletion of the file system, for providing the file access service. The administrator may access to the physical storage device in the management operation in some case.